Glory

These last couple weeks in India have been so spread across the board from our time in Pune to our time in downtown Delhi and even now to our time in Faridabad outside Delhi. Its been a time good time of ministry but also a lot of inconsistency. I feel like more than anything that has really defined our time up to this point. A number of times before we left as we prayed we really felt like God was speaking about interruptions and that ministry would really be in the small things. As I look now from a birds eye view at these last couple weeks I really see how God intended that to be. The moments of sitting with people and just doing life. While on the train we met a guy from Kashmir (disputed territory in northern India) named Danish who has spent a lot of time with us since weve been in Delhi. While in the hotel some of the girls made friends with some other backpackers who ended up coming to dinner with us most nights. These both were small moments but they were interuptions that turned into something so much more. By making ourselves available for God to use in the times that we find incontinent or inopportune weve allowed him to build a relationship with people who see a difference in the way we live. Weve allowed God to show his glory in the small things and found the joy in those.

The other day as a couple of us walked around old Delhi we came across this random building which was down a side alley and was mostly decaying, it had gorgeous carvings though so we decided to explore. Not only was the inside amazing but we discovered from a local that it used to be the courtyard for one of the kings on India. In this small back alley lie a building nearly 500 years old, forgotten and abandoned by the ones who once found it so amazing. Another man showed us a staircase along the inside that wandered to the roof. From the roof was one of the most amazing views of the old city and the red fort. It always amazes me how God works in the small things. The things so intricate and simple yet completely within his design always seen to be the things that bring me the most joy. The sheer fact that he allowed a day like this with a roof overhead and a family who loves and cares from me is a sign his glory. It is shown in the smile of a kid, the love of a friend, the food we eat everyday, or so many others if we really choose to look for it and find it each day. Find the joy in the glory that he shows you today in the small things.

Hope in Pune

I want to introduce you to some friends that I have met during my time in Pune two weeks ago. We worked at an orphanage there which recuses street kids whose parents dont want to or cant provide for them. Most of the kids moms are either prostitutes or beggars. This will be a little more of a photo blog this week instead of wording.....

Jashmim and Pritim: a woman who worked at the orphanage and her son (ie andrew and zach combined via India)

Lata: most amazing little girl, always smiling and happy. some of her siblings are still on the street.

Siddharth

The land of colors....

India! Yes, we are finally here. Its hard to believe its taken this long. It feels like so much time has gone by already, I cant believe it. We got to Mumbai on Tuesday and stayed the night in the city at a hostel so that we could meet the guys on Wednesday at the Mumbai airport. After we picked up our remaining two team members at the airport we headed on to Pune to stay at an orphanage there for about a week. Tuesday we will be heading out for Delhi where we will spend the remaining 5 weeks. At this point we are not totally sure about what we will be doing. We feel as a team its where we are supposed to be and God has given us a pretty good idea of what he wants us to do, now its just a matter of us connecting with the right people to do it. This last half a week at the orphange has been an interesting one adapting to the culture and people. Even having been in India before myself there are a lot of things I had forgotten, mainly the feeling of being a white woman walking around in a country run in which men are held to a higher level than women. For those of you who have walked around Rosarito or some parts of Mexico it is very similar to that. The stares are unbearable at times. Its funny of all the things that I remembered of India the first time around that is not one of them. Despite that this last week has been an intersting time. We had the opportunity to get punjabis and saris this past week to better fit in locally (dont worry a photo will be coming shortly). This morning we also went to a local service at a very large church this morning which was pretty cool. We all wore traditional attire which was pretty cool. I gotta run now but will write again shortly!

And the travel time continues.....

So the last almost 2 weeks have been slewn with travel through approximately 4 countries and one Tuesday we will finally arrive in India making it 5 countries. I didnt get stamps from all of them, I know bummer. Let me just enrich your knowledge though with our exciting travels and the stops along the way.

On march 23rd we left the base in San Pedro, parting with some of the students from our lecture dts group (:( ), to catch a about 4 hr boat to Chetemal, Mexico where we then went through customs (yes I got a green light-those of you who have been through Mexico know what I am talking about), then got a taxi to the bus terminal where we took a 5-6 hr bus ride to Cancun, Mexico. we then stayed in Cancun for two nights at the YWAM base there and made a lovely breakfast (brittany and I were quite proud of ourselves-scrambled eggs, pico, tortillas, and homefried potatoes oh yea!). Then on March 25th we took a plane from Cancun to Philly to New York Laguardia going through US customs in Philly (never knew you went through customs in your first US city you enter-the things you learn). Then we took a taxi to JFK where we had a lovely dinner and PEETE's(!!!!!) (for those of you that live in CA you know my obcession with Peete's). We then got a flight to Quatar (near Saudi Arabia) on Quatar Airways (actually amazing flight). Im justv going to take a moment here to say, I know the name raises a few eyebrows about the airline but it was pretty freaking amazing, probably the best plane food I have ever had and we got Ben and Jerry's ice cream and oreos on the flight!!!!! Anyway, to continue on, we had a slight layover in the Doha airport in Quatar (no I didnt get a stamp, I know total bummer-Im gonna try on the way back though) followed by our flight to Bangkok, Thailand where we arrived on the afternoon of the 28th and have been since then. (picture to the left is some of the girls on our team rocking the thai pants making our jet lag faces)

All that to be said, we have been in Thailand this last week waiting for our visas to India which take about 5 business days. We have been able to do some good ministry, though, while we have been here as well as get over jet lag and do some cultural orientation. We have done a prayer walk at one of the temples in Bangkok, have been to the slums two times (once to meet elderly and work with a group from the Ruth Center and once to help lead a bible study for the elderly and play with kids), and we picked up trash along the streets. Our time in the slums have been, as always on my travels, so good. It is probably one of those things that people least look foward to when they travel, but it is always sooooo good.

Being in a foreign country and confronted with the sheer poverty that exists there is always a hard thing to see; it makes you question what you spend your money on. Do we really appreciate what we have and how we got it, or do we take it for grated because if we loose it we can just get in our car and drive around the corner to get more? 2/3 of the world exists in a state of poverty in comparison to our developed world and yet we rarely take our eyes off the pretty tourist centers when we travel.

Thailand is a country deeply involved in Budhism as well as ancestor worship which can be seen everywhere. Not only are the spectacular temples all over the country with large gold plated Buddha statues but at nearly every business and every corner there are miniture idols that people pray too and place flowers and other offerings around. Each time I enter a culture so different from my own where idol worship is so heavy it stops me dead in my tracks. There are cultures like Thailand that are so beatiful with generous and loving people, warm hearted and kind and yet completely sucked into their idols. It makes you realy think how it all started.... As I sit here on Easter Sunday on my bunk bed in Thailand, I remenised back to our worldview week back on base and Chris' talk about Issac and Ishamel from the Old Testament. The battle waged between two brothers and they both became the father of a house of religion that still stands today. Our world today is never at a lack for choice in which God to follow and so many choose one without seeing it all, without looking at what it is they are serving.

2000 years ago a man died on a tree bearing the sins of the world in an agonizing death and then rose from the dead three days later much to everyone astonishment even his closest followers. He did this not because of anger or judgement but because of love. He willingly put himself on the tree when he could of ended it at any moment but he didnt because of his great love, "greater love than this has no man than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends". 2000 years ago a friend laid down his life so that I could choose to take it up and walk in new life. We all make the decision of what or whom will be our God and I pray we never take the choice lightly because when we do decide we lay a line.

Gone are the days....

In two days we embark to the next phase of our DTS one filled with hope and excitement. These last 3 months has been some of the most challenging but also the most enriching months of my life. I have built some amazing friendships that will hopefully continue to span a lifetime and will change and develop as the seasons of our lives continue to change. It is sad to leave some of our team behind as we join with the sailors to create our team for India. Rene, Marcella, Pete, Richie and I will join with Brittany, Mary, Becky, and Luke from the sailors to create our new team for outreach. Hillary and Alyssa will be going with Lael and Kara from the sailors to Nicaragua.

I know I haven’t written in a couple weeks so I will spend a couple minutes talking about that before I share about what’s next. Three weeks ago we had our faith week where we put into practice what it really looks like to have faith in God not testing him but believing in his goodness. For the sake of future students and any of you who may be inspired to come down and do a DTS with DP I won’t be sharing what we did but I can tell you that my faith in God was definitely tested and that it was an interesting couple of days. I can say though without one ounce of doubt that the dad that I love and serve is a provider, deeply cherishes his children and watches every step even when we don’t trust him and we fall down. This was followed by our mini outreach week where we did some ministry locally here on the island. We lead a bible study for a group of men in town who do woodworking, lead a youth group night, and lead Sunday school for two different ages of kids. The youth group was probably my favorite night out of the events, maybe because of my background. ;) I had also been building a friendship with one of the guys on our team’s little sister so I was able to really hang out with her a little more which was pretty cool. That week we also had the privilege of welcoming the sailors to the base for the first time. Needless to say it had been a lot of prayers and a long time coming waiting for the sailors to come back into town. The last two weeks have been such a crazy rush of things I can’t even believe that they have already passed. Two weeks ago we had a speaker named Bethann. It always amazes me how God uses our stories to pull us together showing us that in him we all have a similar story of redemption. Even more than that though Bethann has a background in counseling so we were able to have some great one on one time talking about that and ideas she had for me for member care. She also had brought with her to the base (totally unrequested) all of the DVD’s for her certification in counseling thorugh the Christian counseling accredidation program, so when I come back in June I can start watching those and getting an actual accredidation for counseling!!!!! I love how God is just like here, I just wanna give you this just because I love you. We somehow have this idea that God only wants to give us the bear minimum of what we need when in reality our daddy just wants to shower us in the abundance of his amazing and gracious love of us. Allow yourself to be spoiled in his goodness and love today. He wants to pour it out, believe in his goodness! Bethann was followed up this past week by Dean Sherman who spoke on spiritual warfare. The sailors stayed docked at the base this week and the team from Belmophan came to join us for the week of lectures. Needless to say we definately had a full base. It was so cool though to see them again after so many weeks and see what God had been doing in their team and through each other. It was a crazy week of questions. I almost had to laugh 2 days in lecture we only got through like 3 slides each day because we were asking so many questions...haha! I guess the Holy Spirit had something else in mind. 

As for outreach we will be leaving Tuesday morning via water taxi to Chetamal, Mexico followed by a bus to Cancun, Mexico and a flight to somewhere in the states then to Bangkok, Thailand for a week to get visas then onto Northern India for our outreach. We will be spending the first two weeks in Pune, India at a orphanage. I am hoping we will have internet but I am not really sure yet. I am also hoping to get a SIM chip for India and will get that number out as soon as I get a chance. I know that isn’t a lot of info but hopefully I will be able to put up some more again soon!

Also, I will be doing a newsletter with a bunch of pictures and info from the lecture phase, if you are interested in seeing what’s been going on (via pictures) and hearing about some of the ways God moved please either leave a comment or email me and I will make sure it gets sent out to you. Love you all and wish you could be here with me!

New Possibilities

I have told you for a couple weeks now that I had some exciting news. In light of the last several weeks I felt like now would be the appropriate time to share with you all what God has done during my time here. As most of you know about a year ago I really felt like God started preparing me for something more. I came to believe that that was a calling to partner with local churches and work with them to really support the missioinaries that they cared for. As I started to discover what that meant I came across the counseling training progarm that YWAM offered that dealt heavely with missionaries and a number of social justice issues. In looking into that deeper I found out that it required the completion of a DTS which in partial is what lead me to DP. As part of the DTS that I am at there is an internship requirement. I had been praying about what God wanted to do with that time and where he wanted me to go. There were a couple good options that I had come across but the more and more I prayed I really felt like God telling me it was my choice. As I talked with the staff here about options, and I feeling like I needed more experience in the mission field myself as well as working with missionaries from not just a church side but an organization, they presented the opportunity for me to come back to DP. They had a need for an intern and outreach facilitator which would work closely with the students helping to coordinate internships, check on them while on internship, create a database of possible internships, and connect with past alumni, in additon to helping organize outreaches. This would allow me to get a good understanding of a number of different cultures and what working as a missionary in that culture is like and counseling them through what is going on there, as well as work as a missionary myself. The initial internship would be 6 months instead of 4 like the typical internship so that I could see my own school as well as the April one thruogh and begin to help the September school with their choices. In additon, it would be with the hope of coming on staff after that. The staff asked me to pray about the option, and over the next couple days I continued to talk with them, as well as fast about the exciting option God had presented me with. After seeking God on it I really felt like it was a green light. Therefore, in late May I will be coming back to Belize with the plan of returning back to DC for a couple months in November with the intention of coming back down here after that. I am not forgetting or neglecting the original vision that God gave me I am simply allowing God to train me a little more before I am able to realize that goal. In addition, DP is hoping to do the counseling school in the near future and at that time I will be able to be a part of the school as a student while also being on staff which will greatly change my fees for the school. I am continuing to hold it in open hands allowing God to do with it what he wills, but I am excited for this new adventure in my life and seeing what God has in store for me through this new ministry and faith in his plan.

Broken and burnt on the lips...

As usual I'm not really even sure where to start, these last couple weeks have probably been some of the most difficult, but also the most rewarding weeks of my DTS yet. I apologize that I haven't written about them yet but they all kind of interconnected, especially emotionally for me. I seriously could write about them each for a page but I will spare you all the details, if you are interested in more info on them just ask and we can chat all about it. Its been three weeks of intense intropection really examining what choices I have made and the things that have happened in the past and how if I don't acknowledge and recognize them they will continue to effect me long into the future.

About 3 weeks ago Matt Attkins from the Seattle area came to speak on the Fathers Heart and how we relate to people as a result of how we understand God and ourselves in light of him. We view God mostly through the lens of our relationships with our earthly fathers and the things that they gave us or failed to give us. Many of you know my relationship with my own dad has had its ups and downs but we defanately haven't been close. I never really imagined how this would effect my relationship with God or even that it had. Our father wants to pour blessings down on us, but we have to acknowledge that and be willing to recieve them, that sounds funny I know but we have so many things that hinder us from really recieving the blessings that God has for us: satan, our fallen nature, the need to expose ourselves to God, loveless teaching, wrong father experiences, and unforgiveness (“like drinking poison and expectings someone else to die”). All of these things were wrapped up in my own relationship with my dad whether I realized them or not. And, to really be able to recieve Gods blessing more than anything we have to walk in faith and obedience to recieve his blessing. To rid ourselves of such behaviors we have to acknowledge the sins in our lives just as I had to do with my own dad. I had to acknowledge what I felt as though I did or didn't recieve from him and I had to forgive him of that and I had to seek forgiveness for my part in our lack of relationship. I wasn't simply a victim of circumstance I had played my part. I think that is probably the most difficult part to acknowledge because its so much easier to just believe things happened to us rather than that we were an active participant in the process. This introspection continued the following week with John Murphy who is in charge of the Snowboarders DTS in Denver, CO. He came and talk on relationships. Yea, I can definately say that I have had my fair share of failures in this area in the past, especially before I was a believer. Really though it all comes back to the father once again and understanding your place with him. We have to figure out are we acting as a son (daughter) or a servant. Do you enjoy and believe in the inheritance of your heavenly farher, believing that he has nothing but the highest and best in store for your life, and he only wishes to shower that on you, or are you one without inheritance simply controlled by the whims of your master. We each have to make that choice of which we are going to be and either we do it conciously or subconciously but either way we make that decision. I challenege you to all examine which are you? I know for me it isnt even a question. I will do what it takes to be a daughter of the most high, believing that God has a plan that is the highest and best for my life, and I will willing lay down what I need to and address whatever I need to in order to see that dream realized in my own life. There are so many qualties that you will exhibit on each I can't even name and explain them all here (again ask if you would like to talk more). In the end it really comes down to probably 3 parts for me: radical obedience, doing life with God not just for him and realizing God's has a plan that is the highest and best for my life. Really all else comes from these parts. In addition to all this, we talked in length about relationships and marriage and what it really takes to make a marriage succesfull, super insightful. There are so many things that have simply become common place today, including divorce and its all stems from not really knowing how to relate to the opposite sex, if we allow it to persist now and don't do anything to change it the next generation will just accept it. We have the power through learning how to do relationships right now, to change what the next generation accepts! Somewhere deep inside, or for some of us right on the surface as believers, we have this fear that what God will bless us with in this life will be proportional to the sin that we did before becoming a believer. Like because we did X God would never want to bless us with Y. What about what we know of God and who he is in scripture would ever bring us to believe this I don't know, but it is simply not true. It goes against everything in his character and nature as a loving and true God. If that is all that you get from this entry I pray that it seeps deep into your soul. You have a loving and true father that seeks to bless you with the highest and best for you regardless of what you have done in the past and without regard to how he blesses anyone else. Honestly, I don't know if we even want to believe this anymore, if we are really honest with ourselves. If we did acknowledge this then we would have to admit that maybe it's worth letting go of the expectations that the world places on us to be “perfect”, that there is always something better, and that, really, we can achieve it if we just try harder. Because once we realize all of that is just crap, we have to let it go. That's scary because it means we aren't in control anymore. The most amazing thing about that though is that simple fact: we aren't in control anymore. I cannot even tell you how freeing that moment is, when you realize you don't have to worry because someone's got it covered. And, let me tell you, he is way better at planning than I could ever even hope to be and he knows me better than I even know myself.I thought that I understood this before I came to DP but what I have come to realize though if that I only understood a fraction of what God intended for this trusting relationship to be. In reality it is so much greater than I ever thought. The staff here have talked a lot about holding everything with open hands allowing your dreams and desires to be taken and molded by God and allowing him to hand you those amazing blessings in return.

During both weeks God brought me to such a place of brokenness about my past, and the ways that I had failed him, even as a believer, rivaling when I was saved. There are those moments in our lives where God just smacks us in the face like in Isiah and we are able to cry “woah is me I am a man of unclean lips”. As we acknowledge these things we are confronted with two choices either to acknowledge our sins and the ways we have failed God or to simply ignore them and opt to live in denial and allow them to furthur poison us. In these I was broken, falling before my savior and seeking his will for my life because that was all I had left that I could do.